World’s Oldest Italian Wine Just Discovered

Someone just hit the wine jackpot! The oldest Italian wine ever was just discovered in Monte Kronio, Agrigento and it’s over 6,000 years old!

Well, archaeologists only found residue of wine in large unglazed ceramic pottery, so it’s not like digging up barrels of the world’s oldest fine Italian wine that could sell for $100,000’s, but it’s amazing find nonetheless.

We previously believed that wine growing and production began in the Middle Bronze Age (1,300-1,100 B.C.), based on finding collections of grape seeds. But, now that Davide Tanasi, PhD., University of South Florida chemically tested these ancient pots from the Copper Age (~4,000 B.C.) in Italy, we know this is the oldest Italian wine in the world. His team found tartaric acid and its sodium salt, which occur naturally in grapes and in the winemaking process. This discovery was possible because the pottery remained intact for thousands of years — a remarkable find.

Now, the only question that remains is… were these ancient winemakers drinking red or white wine?